Perception Check
by seatbeltdrivein
Summary: Ed doesn't understand why Roy worries. Roy's just trying not to have a heart attack. RoyEd, h/c.


_Shameless Roy/Ed hurt/comfort. Written as a birthday gift for a friend. Unbeta'd, you know the drill._

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Ed rested his cheek on the pillow, the blankets wrapped around his body like a cocoon. He felt rather than saw Roy sit down on the other side of the bed, bending down to pull off his boots.

"I don't know why you're sulking," Roy said. "You really did this to yourself."

"I'm loving the sympathy," Ed said peevishly. "Keep it coming."

"If you'd followed orders," Roy continued on calmly, "you wouldn't have had to beg Miss Rockbell to come all the way to Central to create you entirely new limbs. For god's sake, Ed, you've been reckless in the past, but—"

"Yeah, I got that," Ed interrupted. "I fucked up, thanks for letting me know." He pulled the blankets closer, burying himself so deeply that the only piece visible was the top of his head.

Roy reached over, tugging at the blankets. "I dislike having to come pick you up at the hospital every other week," he said quietly.

Ed's grip relaxed. He swallowed. "Sorry."

Pulling the blankets down, Roy ran a hand over Ed's forehead, pushing back his bangs. Ed moved with him, rolling onto his other side and facing Roy. Roy snorted. "You're not really, are you?"

Ed chanced a grin. "Kinda hard to change after all this time, old man."

"Obviously," Roy said dryly, but his lips twitched up into a smirk as he tugged the buttons at his collar open, smoothly transitioning from a high ranking officer of the military to a man relaxing at home. Ed had always found it fascinating how simple it was for Roy.

He'd also found it strange. Ed never needed to transition into anything, because Ed never bothered putting on a face.

"How long?" Roy asked, lifting his legs up onto the bed and reclining against the pillows.

"Till what?"

"Till your mechanic comes to murder you," Roy said. "I'd like to be out of the house when it happens."

"Knowing about it makes you an accessory," Ed pointed out, but Roy just laughed and said, "That's a chance I'm willing to take."

"I don't even remotely like you." Ed glowered at him.

"I love you, too," Roy quipped, and laughed even louder at the responding stain that spread across Ed's face. Really, he made it too easy.

It didn't take long for Ed to drift off to sleep, still pumped full of painkillers and god knew what else from his three day stay at the hospital. Roy watched the younger man start to blink, trying to keep awake, the lines in his forehead smoothing over as he finally went under, his eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks.

Ed looked peaceful, which meant Roy could reach a hand out again, run his thumb over Ed's forehead, over the bruising that spread in a line straight across it. He'd seen Ed looking a mess before, but this was _different_. When Roy had gone to the hospital expecting Ed's usual bangs and bruises, he'd taken one look at the crushed remains of Ed's automail, at the bandages and the blood matted in Ed's hair, and his heart had stopped.

Ed didn't get Roy's concern. Roy wanted to show the man a damn mirror.

Satisfied that Ed wasn't going to wake any time soon, Roy stood, stretching his muscles and wincing, stiff from too many days of sleeping in a hospital chairs. He walked quietly around their bed to grab the plates off Ed's bedside table. Ed had only eaten a third of his food, but the doctors had told Roy to expect that.

Balancing the two plates and the cup, Roy walked carefully down the stairs, painfully aware of each and every creak of the wood beneath his feet. Into the kitchen, he set everything in the sink and, after a quick mental debate, decided to leave it all for the morning.

Roy returned to their room and changed into clothes suitable to sleep in, relieved beyond words to be out of his uniform. On the bed, Ed let out a soft snore, shifting restlessly. Roy grabbed a book and sat back down on the bed, reaching a hand over to run his fingers through Ed's hair soothingly.

He looked back at the clock and noted the time: one in the morning. He still had another forty-five minutes until he had to wake Ed to check on him again.

Roy opened the book, a new alchemical journal he'd been given by Ed's more thoughtful brother, and settled in for a long sleepless night.


End file.
